regarding munchman's assessment. Over the top as usual! All I have to do is remember his assessment df Derrick Rose being a bust of epic proportions to show how much I value his opinion. I mean, can you imagine the Bulls now had they drafted Michael Beasley as munch wanted? But dude...continue your hysterically overly dramatic rant!

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A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives- Jackie Robinson

Can someone, sanely, please answer how we are even as good as last year. A real answer. Not one that imagines improvement from Dayan, TCM, Beckham, and Flowers based on nothing. Not one that imagines Konerko didn't fall off a cliff in the second half last year. Seriously. How is this team going to score runs. We lost our most productive hitter from last year in AJ and Rios had a year way out of his career norm. And we're somehow going to improve? Improve? This team is not just worse, it's a lot worse than last year. That isn't an over the top assessment. Our everyday lineup includes Flowers, Viciedo, and Beckham, three guys who are likely to post an OPS+ of about 30 points under the league average for their respective positions. Our "core" on offense includes that guy that dropped off a cliff due to age and Adam freakin' Dunn. In what universe is this lineup competitive?

Can someone, sanely, please answer how we are even as good as last year. A real answer. Not one that imagines improvement from Dayan, TCM, Beckham, and Flowers based on nothing. Not one that imagines Konerko didn't fall off a cliff in the second half last year. Seriously. How is this team going to score runs. We lost our most productive hitter from last year in AJ and Rios had a year way out of his career norm. And we're somehow going to improve? Improve? This team is not just worse, it's a lot worse than last year. That isn't an over the top assessment. Our everyday lineup includes Flowers, Viciedo, and Beckham, three guys who likely to post an OPS+ of about 30 points under the league average for their respective positions. Our "core" on offense includes that guy that dropped off a cliff due to age and Adam freakin' Dunn. In what universe is this lineup competitive?

Nobody has any idea if this team will be good or not. Just like last year. Until the big money comes off the books, they basically did what they could. That doesn't necessarily mean they will be better or worse than last year. There are players I look for improvement from (Reed, Santiago) and players I expect to perform to a lesser degree (Rios), but I have no idea what will happen. Neither do you.

Can someone, sanely, please answer how we are even as good as last year. A real answer. Not one that imagines improvement from Dayan, TCM, Beckham, and Flowers based on nothing. Not one that imagines Konerko didn't fall off a cliff in the second half last year. Seriously. How is this team going to score runs. We lost our most productive hitter from last year in AJ and Rios had a year way out of his career norm. And we're somehow going to improve? Improve? This team is not just worse, it's a lot worse than last year. That isn't an over the top assessment. Our everyday lineup includes Flowers, Viciedo, and Beckham, three guys who are likely to post an OPS+ of about 30 points under the league average for their respective positions. Our "core" on offense includes that guy that dropped off a cliff due to age and Adam freakin' Dunn. In what universe is this lineup competitive?

John Danks.

The bullpen is better.

Reed should improve.

I personally think Viciedo and Beckham will get better at the plate.

Robin Ventura gaining a year experience.

We have two options at the #5 spot in the rotation rather than Phil Humber.

Keppinger is better than Morel and possibly better than Youkilis.

Rick Hahn has also said "we're not done" and Jerry Reinsdorf had said that our payroll still has flexibility.

Can someone, sanely, please answer how we are even as good as last year. A real answer. Not one that imagines improvement from Dayan, TCM, Beckham, and Flowers based on nothing. Not one that imagines Konerko didn't fall off a cliff in the second half last year. Seriously. How is this team going to score runs. We lost our most productive hitter from last year in AJ and Rios had a year way out of his career norm. And we're somehow going to improve? Improve? This team is not just worse, it's a lot worse than last year. That isn't an over the top assessment. Our everyday lineup includes Flowers, Viciedo, and Beckham, three guys who are likely to post an OPS+ of about 30 points under the league average for their respective positions. Our "core" on offense includes that guy that dropped off a cliff due to age and Adam freakin' Dunn. In what universe is this lineup competitive?

Can someone, sanely, please answer how we are even as good as last year. A real answer. Not one that imagines improvement from Dayan, TCM, Beckham, and Flowers based on nothing. Not one that imagines Konerko didn't fall off a cliff in the second half last year. Seriously. How is this team going to score runs. We lost our most productive hitter from last year in AJ and Rios had a year way out of his career norm. And we're somehow going to improve? Improve? This team is not just worse, it's a lot worse than last year. That isn't an over the top assessment. Our everyday lineup includes Flowers, Viciedo, and Beckham, three guys who are likely to post an OPS+ of about 30 points under the league average for their respective positions. Our "core" on offense includes that guy that dropped off a cliff due to age and Adam freakin' Dunn. In what universe is this lineup competitive?

Nobody has any idea if this team will be good or not. Just like last year. Until the big money comes off the books, they basically did what they could. That doesn't necessarily mean they will be better or worse than last year. There are players I look for improvement from (Reed, Santiago) and players I expect to perform to a lesser degree (Rios), but I have no idea what will happen. Neither do you.

Oh please. Yes no one can 100% predict the future, but there are things that are easy to assume.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SoxNation05

John Danks.

The bullpen is better.

Reed should improve.

I personally think Viciedo and Beckham will get better at the plate.

Robin Ventura gaining a year experience.

We have two options at the #5 spot in the rotation rather than Phil Humber.

Keppinger is better than Morel and possibly better than Youkilis.

Rick Hahn has also said "we're not done" and Jerry Reinsdorf had said that our payroll still has flexibility.

The bullpen is better and Reed should improve are really the same thing. I don't think the bullpen was the problem last year though, and it's debatable how a better bullpen improves us.

I like our #5 options better than Humber. Keppinger is a better stick than Morel and probably Youklis, but he's even more of a defensive black hole than Youk was. And his addition does not compensate for AJ's loss.

John Danks probably won't be 100% this year, but even if he is our big problem is offense, of which we have very little.

Why do you think Beckham will get better at the plate? He's had over 1000 plate appearances and has only regressed.

I'm fairly confident Viciedo will not improve. At least not without more time in the minors and a completely reworked approach. His problem is that he has no batting eye at all, and coupling that with a long swing that doesn't make contact very often, he's a long way from being a piece that can contribute. The league figured him out pretty quickly. Why does it take our fanbase so long? These were things scouts have said about him all along...